By Gabriela Baczynska
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Amsterdam won the right to host the EU's EMA drug agency when it leaves London after Brexit after the Dutch city tied with Milan in a vote on Monday that was then decided by the drawing of lots.
The Council of the European Union confirmed the choice of Amsterdam to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA) but gave no official account of the three rounds of vote which ended with disappointment for the Italian favourite in a lucky dip.
"It's like losing a final on penalties," Italy's EU affairs minister Sandro Gozi told reporters, adding that it had left a "bitter taste in the mouth" for a bid team who were never behind at any stage. He rejected, however, talk of "betrayal" among any allies who had promised Milan support before the secret ballot.
The outcome was welcomed by European pharmaceuticals bodies. The EMA had warned that many of its staff might quit, possibly disrupting healthcare in Europe, if governments had chosen a less attractive host city, notably in the ex-communist east.
Steve Bates, CEO of Britain's BioIndustry Association said: "Businesses now need certainty. The best way to do this is by an early agreement to a transition timeframe and continued close regulatory cooperation. We must now ensure Brexit does not disrupt the safe supply of vital medicines to tens of millions of families in the EU 27 and the UK."
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Eastern governments were left empty-handed when a first round of voting among eight candidates to host the European Banking Authority (EBA) snubbed Warsaw and Prague. Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin went through to the second round, diplomats said, with Paris only slightly ahead of the other two.
Frankfurt, home to the European Central Bank and aiming to be the continent's primary financial centre after Brexit, suffered a blow when it was badly beaten in the second round. Dublin was only one vote short of a 14-vote majority, one source said, but faces strong competition in a runoff against Paris.
In the EMA voting, the abstention of one country - Italy's Gozi said it was Slovakia, whose capital Bratislava was pipped into fourth place in the first round - saw a 13-13 result in the runoff. The Estonian minister chairing the meeting had to step in under the rules to draw lots to decide the winner -- an outcome veteran diplomats said they believed was unprecedented.
In all, 19 cities had bid for the prestige and economic boost that the arrival of the EMA's 900 staff and many offices for international pharmaceuticals companies will bring. Slovak capital Bratislava, the leading contender in ex-communist eastern Europe, came in fourth in the first round of voting.
Ministers went on to vote for one of eight cities hoping to host the smaller European Banking Authority (EBA), which sets rules used by the European Central Bank to carry out stress tests of the banking sector in the bloc.
Eastern governments had emphasised that there are relatively few EU agencies located in the countries which joined the bloc only after the Cold War. But their hopes were dashed.
Estonia's EU minister Matti Maasikas, who was chairing the voting session, called the contest "a sad reminder of the concrete consequences of Brexit". Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019.
Despite fierce competition, the 27 EU states were keen to avoid any protracted and bruising dispute over the matter as they see preserving unity as essential in facing Brexit, the biggest setback in the post-World War Two history of European integration.
"Whatever the outcome, the real winner of today's vote is EU27. Organised and getting ready for Brexit," EU summit chair Donald Tusk tweeted ahead of the votes.
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Francesco Guarascio, Peter Maushagen and Alastair Macdonald; Writing by Alastair Macdonald)